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As shatteredhourglass said, this REALLY depends on your individual deployment. The majority of our devices are used by remote sales reps, and I used to have all of our devices set up on the same Apple ID, and it was a big hastle when we needed to restore a unit back to factory. I wanted to put them back on the same Apple ID, but I didn't want to give out the password, so the rep would have to send it back to me to set it up, which meant they were without their phone for a few days, and we forwarded work calls to their personal phone.

iMessage was actually a big headache for the reps when it first came out, as they did use texting to do their jobs, and it did not work having them receive messages that were not for them. I then had to walk each of them through configuring it correctly.

Having them log in with their own Apple IDs has been great. They can download apps that they want, or need for business purposes, and I have to work with them much less when something goes wrong on the device.

The only headache I see now is the new Activation Lock in iOS 7 which requires the user's Apple ID be used to unlock a device after wiping it... I'm currently trying to figure out how I'm going to deal with this.

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I managed almost 100 apple devices, and they ALL used the same apple ID. This also means you can keep tabs on all the iMessages going on, as well, which is a great fringe benefit lol. Let me know if you'd like more one-on-one help, feel free to PM me.

There is no one answer for every deployment. I assume, by your description, that you will not be allowing these people to put their own apps on the device, correct? If you are doing so, I would go with one ID. You can then keep the password to that ID secret and they will not be able to purchase apps with the ID. Also, you can lock down purchases in the restrictions settings.

cool, was not sure if there was a limit on how many you could add. I like the idea of monitoring the chat as well

Monitoring chat won't work like that. If they are all using the same ID, they will all receive every message sent to that ID, and their response will come from the same ID. They could not chat with each other, as they would all have the same iMessage account.

cool, was not sure if there was a limit on how many you could add. I like the idea of monitoring the chat as well

Monitoring chat won't work like that. If they are all using the same ID, they will all receive every message sent to that ID, and their response will come from the same ID. They could not chat with each other, as they would all have the same iMessage account.

This is true, and yes it does work as long as the individual devices are set up to send and receive from their proper phone numbers. It requires a separate device, also connected to the Apple ID, however you let it send and receive from all the other numbers attached to the ID. It works, i've done it and i've used it.

cool, was not sure if there was a limit on how many you could add. I like the idea of monitoring the chat as well

Monitoring chat won't work like that. If they are all using the same ID, they will all receive every message sent to that ID, and their response will come from the same ID. They could not chat with each other, as they would all have the same iMessage account.

This is true, and yes it does work as long as the individual devices are set up to send and receive from their proper phone numbers. It requires a separate device, also connected to the Apple ID, however you let it send and receive from all the other numbers attached to the ID. It works, i've done it and i've used it.

Couldn't they also use their email addresses? I have my iMessage set to use my cell number and email address.

cool, was not sure if there was a limit on how many you could add. I like the idea of monitoring the chat as well

Monitoring chat won't work like that. If they are all using the same ID, they will all receive every message sent to that ID, and their response will come from the same ID. They could not chat with each other, as they would all have the same iMessage account.

This is true, and yes it does work as long as the individual devices are set up to send and receive from their proper phone numbers. It requires a separate device, also connected to the Apple ID, however you let it send and receive from all the other numbers attached to the ID. It works, i've done it and i've used it.

So, how are you monitoring them? Are you adding their individual numbers to another iDevice that aggregates them?

We've made the mistake in the past of letting users use their personal accounts, then slightly fixed it and started making itunes accounts for them with their company email, both solutions imo suck and we really need to address this next year...

This person is a verified professional.

As shatteredhourglass said, this REALLY depends on your individual deployment. The majority of our devices are used by remote sales reps, and I used to have all of our devices set up on the same Apple ID, and it was a big hastle when we needed to restore a unit back to factory. I wanted to put them back on the same Apple ID, but I didn't want to give out the password, so the rep would have to send it back to me to set it up, which meant they were without their phone for a few days, and we forwarded work calls to their personal phone.

iMessage was actually a big headache for the reps when it first came out, as they did use texting to do their jobs, and it did not work having them receive messages that were not for them. I then had to walk each of them through configuring it correctly.

Having them log in with their own Apple IDs has been great. They can download apps that they want, or need for business purposes, and I have to work with them much less when something goes wrong on the device.

The only headache I see now is the new Activation Lock in iOS 7 which requires the user's Apple ID be used to unlock a device after wiping it... I'm currently trying to figure out how I'm going to deal with this.